Soft flexible coverings, such as carpets and resilient floor coverings (i.e. linoleum and vinyl) are generally provided in large rolls, which are unrolled during installation. To ensure that they are properly secured in place, these floor coverings are stapled or glued on the floor or subfloor. As a consequence, such coverings are often difficult to remove from the floor should the need for replacement or renovation arise.
Several attempts have been made to develop special equipment to facilitate the removal of such flexible floor coverings. Examples of such devices can be found in the prior art under U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,387,308, 4,906,323, 5,909,868 and 6,840,299. The foregoing patents generally describe devices for manually detaching a carpet from a floor. These devices all have gripping portions for grippingly engaging the carpet. The carpet may then be detached from the floor by pulling the grip, either directly or via a lever mechanism. The use of these systems tends to require the application of physical strength which is generally not preferred.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,348,608 and 5,456,794 generally disclose systems for stripping carpets that include a grip for gripping a portion of the carpet, a base on which is mounted a winch and a wire connecting the grip to the winch. To operate these systems, the winch is activated, pulling the grip toward the base thereby causing the carpet to be stripped off. While generally satisfactory, the configuration of these systems does raise certain safety concerns. More specifically, there is a risk that the wire may snap during use. In addition, these systems need to be relocated constantly to strip the carpet at different locations on the floor. As a consequence, these systems have to be shut down frequently which tends to adversely affect their efficiency.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,199,616 and 6,004,426 disclose a carpet stripping apparatus that has a frame, a spool-like roller on which may be wound a portion of stripped carpet, and a gripping member attached to the roll for grippingly engaging a portion of carpet. The roll is supported on the frame for rotational movement about a generally horizontal axis. The carpet stripping apparatus is further provided with a motor for driving rotation of the roll. In operation, the roll is driven to rotate with its gripping member grippingly engaging a portion of carpet to be removed. As the roll rotates, a strip or band-like portion of the carpet is detached from the floor. The band of stripped carpet is wound about the roll. As more carpet is wound about the roll, its diameter and more importantly, its weight increase thereby requiring more operating power and increasing energy consumption. On some premises or job sites, the voltage required to operate these devices may not be conveniently available. In addition, when the roll diameter becomes excessively large, it will be necessary to stop the apparatus to remove the carpet from the roll. This operation tends to be time-consuming and labour intensive.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,948,451 and 5,415,725 disclose carpet removing apparatus that generally include a frame, and a pair of rolls rotatably mounted between the spaced apart sidewalls of the frame. The rolls are disposed very close to each other in a tandem arrangement. The space between the rolls is sized so as to receive a portion of carpet. A motor is further provided for driving rotation of one of the rolls. In operation a portion of the carpet is inserted in the space between the rolls and is captively retained therewithin. The motor is then actuated to thereby cause rotation of the driven roll. As the roll rotates, the portion of carpet within the space is pulled away from the floor.
Although this type of device provides an interesting alternative to the earlier described carpet stripping devices, their configuration may pose certain safety hazards for operators of the devices. For instance, loose clothing may get caught between the rolls during operation thereby causing a worksite accident. Additionally, the frames of these machines tend to be relatively heavy to resist the high forces exerted by the rolls. As a result, these devices tend to be difficult to transport and handle.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an apparatus for removing flexible floor coverings that is safe, easy to transport and handle and that has relatively modest energy consumption requirements. A carpet stripping device capable of removing a large portion of carpet or other flexible floor covering without the need for constant work stoppage or repositioning would be especially desirable.